Ride Day 7 We Have Finished!!!

Our last day, and what a day of riding it was. We began at Gettysburg FD where we were escorted through the streets of Gettysburg. As if this were not enough VIP treatment, special permission was obtained to allow us to parade through the Gettysburg Battlefield.

We entered the site of this horrific Civil War battle where thousands of men lost their lives. As usual, the ride began with the friendly chatter of every ride morning, but once we entered this site and saw the battlements and monuments everyone fell silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the click of gear changes and the buzz of free hubs. We processed through the entire battlefield that is accessible by road and then continued on our journey.

Once our travels through the battle site were complete when proceeded out of the city and into the countryside. Once out of the city, guess what we found…I’m sure you guessed it…MORE HILLS! We traveled the back roads of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The views were spectacular. It is amazing how rolling the landscape is in this part of the country. It also makes for some very challenging riding, particularly for us “flat landers” as we have been called by those from mountain states.

During our travels we came to the small Maryland town of Taneytown. The folks at Taneytown rolled out the red carpet for us. We were provided with food and water along with a brief ceremony where the Mayor of the town proclaimed May 21, 2010 “Muddy Angels Day”; additionally, the Mayor had a proclamation from the Governor that proclaimed the day “National EMS Memorial Ride Day” for the state.

The day continued on with climb after climb. It was a very challenging day as the mileage was 103 miles for the day. At the end of the day we saw our final destination coming into view as we rode through our nation’s capitol. We continued on to our ultimate destination Alexandria Virginia.

We were met at the city limits by police escort and paraded through the streets of Alexandria. We arrived in town around 7 pm and being Friday night the streets were packed with people. As we rode through everyone stopped and applauded and cheered. As we approached our hotel we could see a huge crowd gathered. We paraded under the American flag which was flying from aerial trucks and crossed the finish line to the sounds of cheers and a full pipe and drum corps from New York City. The sounds of the bagpipes and drums gave us chills and provided for an awesome finish.

At the end of the day we were exhausted. We had completed a journey of 542 miles crossing ten states. We undertook this task to honor and remember our fallen friend David Deland. While this ride is complete the job of EMS is not, and never will be. We will continue to lose good friends, but we will always remember them.

We want to thank all of our donors who made this trip possible. We want to thank the people of Lake – Sumter EMS who have supported and followed us. But, most importantly, we want to thank our families, for without your support we could have never accomplished this feat.

John